What is agent runtime governance?

One gateway routes agent tool calls through a governed point, scoping holds each agent to the tools its job needs, and guardrails judge each call against policy.

Is this intent-based access control?

Yes, the provable version. Much of the market means inferred intent, a model's guess at what an agent is trying to do. C1 means governed scope: the task defines the tools an agent is offered, every call is judged against policy, and every action resolves to an accountable owner.

How is this different from a prompt filter or AI firewall?

Those inspect the model's words. C1 governs the action, the tool call itself, and resolves it to a governed identity, an accountable owner, and the policy that judged it.

What happens when a guardrail check can't run?

A check that can't run holds the call rather than waving it through. The controls fail closed on purpose, and get more cautious, not less, when a component is unavailable.

How does this fit into the C1 platform?

C1 governs every identity, human, workload, and AI agent, on one control plane: shadow AI discovery sees what's running, agentic vault secures its credentials, agent runtime governance judges what agents do, and agentic security & intelligence closes what goes wrong.

Agent Runtime Governance

Govern what agents actually do

Intent-based access control. Each agent scoped to its task, every call judged, every action owned.

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Every action an agent takes looks the same, whether it's routine work or an attack.

C1 governs the call itself, enforcing guardrails on every agent action: control at the point where AI acts.

Runtime control for every agent

Full coverage without touching agent code

Secure every agent without modifying a single line of code. Register MCP servers and internal tools automatically, then enforce policy on every request through one control point.

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Easily manage every tool call

Give every agent only the tools it needs. Assign governed toolsets, review permissions like any other access, and eliminate guesswork with intent-based authorization.

Catch dangerous calls before they run

Stop dangerous commands before they execute by detecting private data access, prompt injection, and exfiltration attempts before damage occurs.

Turn on enforcement with confidence

Roll out AI guardrails without disrupting the business. Test policies in observe mode first, then block, redact, or require approval with confidence.

Audit-ready, down to every agent action

Prove every AI action was governed. Every decision records the agent, tool, policy, owner, and outcome—giving security teams an audit trail they can trust.

95%

of enterprises now run AI agents autonomously

19%

of enterprises adjust access continuously based on policy and context; the rest let it drift until an incident surfaces it

Companies like Instacart, Ramp, Zscaler, and Brex scale AI agents with C1.

C1's 2026 Future of Identity Report

How C1 governs agents at runtime

Route the traffic

Point agent tool traffic at the identity-aware gateway. No agent rewrites, no SDK inside your agents.

Scope the access

Each tool is classified on a scale from read-only to dangerous, with your review and override, and each agent gets only what its job needs. Auto-approve the reads, gate what changes or exposes.

Judge every call

Guardrails score each call and enforce your posture: block, hold for approval, or redact. A check that can't run holds the call.

Prove what happened

Every action lands as one audit event naming the agent, the tool, the policy that decided, and the outcome.

See for yourself

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Credential Security

Shadow AI Discovery

AI Access Gateway

FAQs

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Brief

C1 for Agent Runtime Governance

Each agent scoped to its task. Every call checked. Every action owned.

Blog

Most Enterprises Think They're on Rung 3. They're on Rung 1.

C1's Field CISO on the five-rung agentic AI maturity ladder — shadow AI, tracked AI, governed AI, federated reuse, and compounding — plus the four diagnostic questions that tell you which rung you are actually on.

Guide

Agentic AI Security Risks: The OWASP Top 10 and How to Fix Them

Agentic AI security risks run through identity. See the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications, what each risk looks like, and the controls that fix it.

Govern every action. Trust every outcome.

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